All posts tagged Nvidia

I will miss my Shield when Nvidia takes back its test unit from me sometime soon.

I’ve grown attached to the curiously shaped, handheld Android gaming console the more I use it. It may look a bit funky, but it works great and feels right, from its retina-quality touchscreen to the built-in Xbox 360-like controller.

I just can’t honestly say that I completely get it — or what Nvidia was thinking when it built the device — and that I’d be willing to part with 300 bucks for it. Read More »

Companies that specialize in computer graphics often try to make realistic simulations of people. Nvidia is trying to raise the bar–and bring the benefits to mobile devices.

The Silicon Valley chip maker is using the Siggraph conference to show off what it calls Project Logan, an effort to shoehorn the most powerful graphics technology into smaller chips that could be used in pocket-sized devices.

Such high-end technologies from Nvidia normally reside in large, power-sucking circuit boards that plug into desktop PCs. Read More »

Nvidia last month said it would delay the delivery of its Shield portable videogame player from the end of June until sometime in July. Late Monday, the chip maker said the device will arrive the very last day of the month.

The company had said it needed extra time to refine a “mechanical issue” related to a third-party mechanical component, without providing specifics.

On Monday, Nvidia indicated that the problem is resolved, after working “non-stop” to ensure it meets the company’s quality-control standards. Read More »

Graphics chip maker Nvidia Corp., which is developing its own portable gaming device, is open to acquisitions, Chief Executive Jen-Hsun Huang said Tuesday.

Bloomberg News

Mr Huang spoke about Project Shield at the Consumer Electronics Show earlier this year.

Speaking at Computex, Asia’s biggest PC trade show, Mr. Huang told The Wall Street Journal that the Santa Clara, Calif., company is interested in technologies that “fit into its businesses,” but declined to give more specifics.

Nvidia is best known for making chips and circuit boards that help computers and videogame consoles generate visual effects. The chip maker is expanding beyond selling chips by developing a portable device that can play videogames. The handheld console called Shield will be priced at $349 and is on track to ship by the end of June, Mr. Huang said. Read More »

That was the prevailing discussion topic at this year’s Consumer Electronics Show, where hoards of journalists descended on press conference rooms and the massive convention center floor to cover the newest innovations inch by inch.

Sure, there were some “Ooh” and “Ahh” moments, such as the various announcements of ultra-high-definition televisions and autonomous cars, but the rest was less impressive than years past, attendees said. Even the cabbies were yawning as they reminisced about years past with blimps and banners announcing the latest tech innovation.

There was concern about whether attendance was on the rise again or had fallen as it had during the recession. Some cabbies and hotel workers said they were optimistic about the number of customers they had from the show, but others said they had expected more. The Consumer Electronics Association said it will release its attendance numbers Friday.

Older technology that was once hot, such as 3D visuals, got another D–disappeared. Almost no television makers discussed the technology in detail, deciding instead to unveil advanced motion controls, app catalogs and next-generation displays. Read More »

Nvidia, a chip maker that grew up around the personal-computer industry, has made some headway lately in moving its technology into newer-wave mobile devices. But the man who spearheaded that effort has quietly departed.

Mike Rayfield, general manager of Nvidia’s mobile business unit, resigned effective Aug. 24 to take a role at another company, said Hector Marinez, an Nvidia spokesman, in an emailed response. Details about the new job have not been disclosed yet, Marinez added.

“It’s a big loss for them,” said JoAnne Feeney, an analyst who follows Nvidia for Longbow Research, who said she had not heard of Rayfield’s departure. “He’s really been driving the strategy.” Read More »

For several years, Asustek Computer has gradually been gaining respect for its design prowess. The Taiwan-based company’s new convertible tablet is one of most talked-about gadgets at the Consumer Electronics Show, and another wave-making model may be coming.

Nvidia

The rising influence of the company–better known as Asus–was apparent at a press conference Monday afternoon by Nvidia. Indeed, one could almost call it a love-fest, as most of the demonstrations by Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang were conducted on the recently introduced Asus Eee Pad Transformer Prime–the thinnest tablet on the market from a major manufacturer, which plugs into a keyboard for typing or simply holding the device upright.

“It is a fabulous tablet as well as a fabulous clamshell,” Huang said. Read More »

Nvidia has long been a force in upgrading the appearance of images. On Tuesday, the Silicon Valley chip maker gave another progress report, along with a rare preview of two future product families.

The company–a well-known name in the market for chips known as GPUs, or graphics processing units–likes to name them after famous scientists. Its current high-end chip is called Fermi, which is found in cards used by videogame enthusiasts.

Jen-Hsun Huang, Nvidia’s chief executive, disclosed during an annual conference that it will deliver a chip, code named Kepler, in late 2011 that will be three to four times the performance of Fermi with little increase in power consumption. “There are hundreds of engineers working on it,” he said, estimating that the product family will require a cumulative investment of roughly $2 billion in research and development. Read More »